Ben Lansky Photo Low/10 section/12 PLUS Jesus / Explosions in the Sky / more The Weekly Student Magazine of the University of Minnesota
18-24 April 2007
Editorial/ Editor-in-Chief Jenny Odegard
Managing Editor Eric Price
Athletics Editor Nick Gerhardt
Campus Editor Brad Tucker
Literary Editor Jacob Duellman
Sound & Vision Editor Alice Vislova
Voices Editor Nathaniel Olson
Editorial Assistants Dan Olmschenk, Tammy Quan
Staff Writer Carl Carpenter, Becky Lang
PRODUCTION/ Production Manager Jeremy Sengly
Art Director Sam Soule
Photography Editor Ethan Stark
Web Editor Luke Preiner
Copy Editors Brent Campbell, Erin Lavigne
Graphic Designers Dave Hagen, Eric Price, Becki Schwartz, Jeremy Sengly, Krista Spinti
Distributors Preston Jones, Luke Preiner
BUSINESS/ Advertising Executive Tyler Jones
Office Manager Elizabeth Keely Shaller
Public Relations Director Allie Dinnocenzo
Advertising Interns Ben Anderson, Autumn Brothers, Eric McPherson
Advisory Board James DeLong, Kevin Dunn, Courtney Lewis, Gary Schwitzer, Kay Steiger, Mark Wisser
THIS ISSUE/ Cover Artist Jeremy Sengly Illustrators Dave Hagen, Alex Judkins, Mike Mason, Eric Price, Jeremy Sengly Photographers Ben Lansky, Rahima Schwenkbeck, Tim Soter, Ethan Stark
Contributing Writers Dillon Aretz, Elizabeth Aulwes, Carl Carpenter, Ben Drewelow, Nick Gerhardt, Kelly Gulbrandson, Diane Jones, Preston Jones, Becky Lang, Trey Mewes, Patrick McGuire, Kristen Mueller, Rahima Schwenkbeck, Kristoffer Tigue, Brad Tucker,
/5:26 Š2007 The Wake Student Magazine. All rights reserved. Established in 2002, The Wake is a weekly independent magazine and registered student organization produced by and for the students of the University of Minnesota.
The Wake Student Magazine 1313 5th St. SE #331 Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-5952 • www.wakemag.org The Wake was founded by Chris Ruen and James DeLong.
Hello all, Due to extenuating circumstances our editors were not able to write a letter for this issue. I have taken it upon myself to fill the void left by their absent voices. Given this opportunity I would like to pose a question to our dear readers: Would you rather ‌ Eat a pill that would teach you the secrets of alchemy, thereby allowing you to turn any substance on the planet to gold, with the unfortunate side effect that you can no longer orgasm.
Low/10
or Have that same pill still allow you to practice alchemy, but the only way you can transmute one substance into another is to first ingest it and then take a horrible dump. You can still orgasm though. Discuss amongst yourselves. Feel free to e-mail your responses to jsengly@wakemag.org. I’ll post the results if anyone e-mails me . Salutations,
Sound & Vision/04 VOICES/08 PHOTOGRAPHY/12 CAMPUS/14 LITERARY/18 ATHLETICS/20 BASTARD/23
Jeremy Sengly
Production Manager
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Everything is bigger in Texas; a cliché that could not be better demonstrated than by the explosive instrumental quartet known as Explosions in the Sky. From ripping apart melodies drowned in droning feedback to quietly plucking a single string, Explosions have mastered a tension that makes for easy and enjoyable listening, even for the lyrically inclined. Starting off barely audible, the band slowly builds up the rhythm, adding guitar after guitar until the song seems like it s going to burst. It s no wonder that the name Explosions in the Sky fits these four Texans like a tight cowboy boot; their music is like an impressionist painting of a fireworks display. One of the best things about the band is its continuity, releasing four full-length albums that never seem repetitive and never stray too far into the mainstream so that each is enjoyably new, yet pleasantly familiar.
the sky above, the stage below: Explosions in the Sky Blow the Roof Off First Avenue. by Trey Mewes
04/18-24 April 2007
The first song off the band’s latest release, All of the Sudden I Miss Everyone, “The Birth and Death of the Day” starts off with their classic distortion-laden buildup accompanied by two guitars soaring in the background. The best thing about these guys isn’t simply their continuity, or their remarkable albums, it is the fact that they can accomplish all of this and still put on an amazing live set. Even from their beginnings, Explosions in the Sky live shows have been described as stunning, or as their fellow Texan based instrumental friends The American Analog Set says, “This totally fucking destroys!” Destroys is right, Explosions destroy the conventions of indie rock by rising beyond the added influence of lyrics. The fact that Explosions in the Sky have achieved such a great following is extraordinary for the instrumental genre, which is unfortunately rarely known outside of a few bands such as Mogwai and Godspeed You Black Emperor. Although Explosions keep under the radar enough to avoid Gap commercials, they have had a fairly large amount of mainstream success. Many nonindie loving music fans and frat guys alike can recognize Explosions in the Sky music as, “that music off of Friday Night Lights”. The band enjoys such success as having an entire soundtrack CD to Friday Night Lights in their name and having their songs appear on the newer TV series. Enjoying such a following among the indieelite and the mainstream alike, its no wonder that people packed in for their show March 20th at First Ave.
\Sound & Vision
dianne jones
Getting to the show early had the perks snagging a spot close to the stage and catching the first act of the night, a one-man project of Matthew Cooper: Eluvium. Along with being an established instrumental artist in his own right, Eluvium shares the Tempoary Residence label with Explosions. Along with Explosions recent release, Eluvium is touring to promote his most recent album out his already stunning catalog, Copia. Shifting from subdued melodies to eroding sequences Eluvium builds up his crescendo of piano and guitar early on, rising from slow and peaceful melodies until he hits the distortion and everything melts into one rising and falling drone. Accompanied by a minimalist slideshow of bird’s circling a smoke stack, Eluvium’s piano pieces hypnotize the audience in a steady ambient nod. After a short break The Paper Chase drowned the stage in their nervous sideshow rock. The paranoid bursts of
noise, the theatrical aspects of the opening songs and the panicked jerks of front man John Congleton, The Paper Chase exploits their noise heavy rock to attack the audience song after song. On the road after putting out their 4th full-length album Now You Are One of Us,
Explosions kept the crowd entranced, from screaming to mutely watching, perfecting their cycle of highs and lows to make the hour long set fly by without the slightest sense of boredom. The Paper Chase uses their music and their bodies as a form of theatre both frightening and manic. Both a talented singer and guitar player, John Congleton also produced Explosions in the sky’s recent release.
With the venue nearly filled Explosions in the Sky took the stage. Forgoing theatrics and slide shows Explosions began with “The Birth and Death of the Day,” composed simply of three guitarists and a drummer hidden in the background. Although their stage presence was minimalist, they started off slow and quiet only to crescendo into a reverb filled chorus and soaring guitars. Explosions kept the crowd entranced, from screaming to mutely watching, perfecting their cycle of highs and lows to make the hour long set fly by without the slightest sense of boredom. Regardless of whether you like instrumental music or not, Explosions in the Sky is an innovative band, mainstream and underground at the same time. The members of Explosions aren’t the pretentious art rockers of some instrumental outfits, just four guys from Austin playing music they love.
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Headlights Shine at 7th Street Entry By Kristen Mueller First Avenue’s side-room, the 7th Street Entry, is small and dark; David to the Main Room’s Goliath. Lit by an exit sign, four candles and a few colored spotlights, 7th Street is intimate and seductive. However, it can pack a mean punch. It’s an ideal venue for the highly acclaimed but sparsely known indie-pop group Headlights, who performed on April 4 with Page France and The Winter Blanket. Headlights is Tristan Wraight, Erin Fein and Brett Sanderson, three Midwesterners who wouldn’t look out of place on a European stage, the sort you find in back-alley clubs not mentioned in Fodor’s. The guitar, synth and drum trio is said to have “an uncanny knack for soaring peaks and energetic compositions,” and the bands they’re compared to is a “who’s who” list of indie-pop stardom. Their 2006 release, “Kill Them With Kindness,” does just that: unleashing a whirlwind of catchy tracks that sweeps you up and drags you away like Dorothy careening toward Oz. Wraight and Fein’s vocal harmonies are partly to blame. Though reminiscent of Polyvinyl Records label-buddies Mates of State, Headlights whisper where their counterparts wail, and still make lyrics like “Broken teeth/Broken eyes/We’ll all die someday” sound like celebratory statements of life rather than morose ruminations on death. The same can be said for “Tokyo,” a tribute to life on the road from their four-song “The Enemies” EP, which concedes, “Another broken heart/Another town you must take in stride/If home is where the heart is/Then home is here.”
courtesy headlights
formed as Absinthe Blind and Orphans, Page France rose from the ashes of another band, named for lead guitarist and vocalist Michael Nau, in 2004.
“We have a goal to tour as much as our bodies can handle.”
“Here” could be a tavern in Kansas City, a café in Hannover, or a restaurant named Cowboy Monkey in Headlights’ hometown of Champaign, Illinois, where the threesome share a 19th-century house among soybean and corn fields. Not that they’re home much. “We have a goal to tour as much as our bodies can handle,” Wraight told the music website MundaneSounds.com last November, in the midst of a 55-show tour—a light load after their 72-show tour the previous spring.
“They’re really fucking good,” spits a rambunctious fan during the “Weatherman Section 1,” when the poetic Nau sings “Here I am/The weatherman/Here today/And gone tomorrow/Tell me what you want to hear/No skies of grey/No clouds of sorrow.”
This spring Headlights was joined by Maryland’s folkpop act Page France for parts of their latest three-month round-the-world trek. Like Headlights, who once per-
Next up, closing the seven-song set, is the bell-shaking marriage hymn “Chariots,” promising “We will become a happy ending.”
06/18-24 April 2007
Local The Winter Blanket warmed up the unseasonably cold night as the openers for Headlights and Page France. With the lyrics “You’re looking quite pale these days/ You’re looking quite thin,” The Winter Blanket could be describing any indie rock back migrating south from Canada or galloping out of Omaha’s Saddle Creek Records. But this evolving group’s first disc, 2000’s “Hopeless Lullaby,” was inspired by an even less-likely locale: Duluth, Minnesota. “It was an inspired dream,” they write on their MySpace page, recalling the time spent eating blueberry pancakes, playing Frisbee, and “jamming to Steely Dan on the radio.” Before stifling a yawn, consider an introduction made to another Winter Blanket song: “It’s sort of a cock-rocker, if you know what I mean … Feel free to fondle freely on this next one.”
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Lessons in Global Empathy at the Walker by Becky Lang Learning that 39.5 million people in the world have HIV or AIDS activates one part of your mind, but watching just one sufferer take a cocktail of medications and then retire to the couch with a lemonade will probably engage you completely. It may be a fault of humanity that a statistic alone does little for our sympathies, but by presenting issues of cultural indifference and isolation through stories and faces, art is created. The Walker Art Center’s Global Lens 2007 program presents films from the mountains of Chile to the markets of Mozambique, intending to open our minds not just to the issues, but also to the fact that there is a breadth of culture outside of the Hollywoodization of the planet. Dam Street, a film from China, tells the story of a high school girl’s gradual estrangement from her baby. When she becomes pregnant, she is still a teenager writing in her diary and dreaming of becoming an opera singer. By the time her child, who has been given away, is ten, she has lost her innocent, loopy braids as well as her aspiration to sing traditional music. Instead, she sings brittle pop tunes in a small, folding chair-filled club, harassed by drunken men and their angry wives. The story itself sounds flashy and intense, but the cinematography leads the viewers in another direction. The scenery is rainy
A Fiery Furnace & Dylan Matthew Friedberger speaks to The Wake BY CARL CARPENTER
and gray, the camera angle far away and cautious, viewers witnessing the characters from inside dark dioramas. A pervading sense of isolation is created, resonating with the way characters intermingle: always seeing one another through holes in the walls or constrained social interactions.
The film is almost song-like, as the intensity increases with the chugging of the tracks and the progressively louder weeping of the victim. In an opposite manner, O Jarim do Outro Homem, a film from Mozambique, tells of women being forced to sleep with AIDS-infected teachers in order to pass biology class, but has the easy-breezy pacing of Saved By the Bell. The music is cheerful and there is almost as much focus on teenage romances as there is on the obvious issues at hand: disease, lack of awareness and sexism. The way that the film mediates between the grave nature of the situation and the tranquil spirit of the country helps view-
Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces was on campus recently to take part in the Bob Dylan festivities, joining a panel of local writers and musicians to discuss Dylan’s lyrics and influence. We grabbed a table outside of Coffman Union over looking the Mississippi; talked a little U of M and discussed the two new Furnace’s albums in the works. Wake: So I hear you drove up from Chicago this morning. Matthew Friedberger: I did, not too bad of a drive ... (His gaze drifts out over the flowing Mississippi) I really love this campus ... I went to the U of Illinois, but had a couple of friends who went here ... this really is a cool campus. Wake: Yeah, it’s large, plus we’ve got downtown sittin’ right over there. Matt: Oh, right. I suppose that’s pretty nice. Wake: So I take it you’re a pretty big Dylan fan? Matt: Well, yeah. I mean, I love and respect him and have gone through major Dylan phases, just, probably not to the degree that some of the other people on this panel (local writer Dylan Hicks, local singer song writer Dan Israel, and Adam Levy, chief songwriter of local group the Honeydogs, among others). Not to say I don’t like him, I’ve listened to Modern Times (Dylan’s newest) about a hundred times, but I was more into the whole classic rock thing. Pink Floyd and The Who and Led Zeppelin and
ers to see Mozambique for not just its problems, but also for its personality. The series of Global Shorts, seven 15-minute films shown one after the other, is a particularly poignant view of world cinema. Broad Day, from India, recounts a true story of a girl who was raped on a train in Mumbai. The film is almost song-like, as the intensity increases with the chugging of the tracks and the progressively louder weeping of the victim. The film is also subtle, showing only her hair and feet at first, instead concentrating on the bystanders’ facial expressions, forcing the viewer to understand that indifference is the real perpetuator of the crime. En Ausencia, from Argentina, narrates a story from the perspective of a woman sitting on the toilet, undressing as she waits for a pregnancy test. As she lights up a cigarette, the viewer is shown reflections of her past, when she let her hair down and cuddled in bed with her husband, a time before her family was violently exiled from their home. The Global Lens 2007 project begins on Wednesday the 11th of April, and goes until the 22nd. Everyone from the prospective backpacker to the polyglot has a new perspective to gain.
all that. But I’ve spent my fair share of time pouring over Dylan’s work and lyrics. As a songwriter, you kind of have to. Wake: I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Dylan’s lyrics as the subject matter in your own songs are some of the more varied and interesting I’ve encountered. You do write the songs right? And your sister sings them? Matt: Yeah, that’s pretty much the set-up for all of our songs. She may have done one or two here and there, but for the most part, that’s how it works. Wake: It’s a fairly unique set-up, but it’s seemed to have worked out quite well so far. Matt: Yeah, I’d like to think so. It’s nice for me because I can just write whatever without having to worry about having to sing them and its fun for her because she can take them and sing without having to worry either. She can just completely get into them and not have to feel selfconscience about what she’s saying, right? She can say, “I didn’t write this weird shit.” And blame it all on me. Wake: Yeah, definitely a successful partnership. Have you guys been touring at all lately? Matt: No, we’re actually just finishing up work on two new albums. It’s been crazy, we’re excited though. We’re not sure when they’re coming out. Sometime this summer maybe. We’re still mixing but it should be great. I think you’ll like them.
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Class, Today’s Lesson Is Reaganology Quarterback, actor, president … douche bag?
Syndrome. Uhh, bigotry anyone? Social conservatives did a great deal to discredit the AIDS cause as the disease spread like wildfire in America’s crack infested cities. Reagan wouldn’t even comment on AIDS until 1985. In my mind, I can just see him and Bush the senior chatting it up in the Oval Office…
BY ben drewelow So good-ol’ George W. ain’t so good-ol’ no more. Not too popular, as it happens. The public’s general distaste for the war-monger-in-chief has spawned a mega-glorification of the most recent non-Bush Republican president, who happens to be Ronald Reagan. Been following politics? Ever since presidential campaigns started kicking off 30 years in advance, there’s been a wave of Reagan idolatry.
Reagan: “George, I’m telling you, leave San Francisco off of the campaign trail. We’re talking Gaysville, USA. That’s where they made the GRIDS.”
“I’m a Ronald Reagan conservative,” says John McCain, over and over again, and again and again. He’s not the only one. A few weeks ago at the CPAC, a political conference for right-wingers, a whopping 79% of poll respondents identified themselves as “Reagan Republicans” as opposed to “Bush Republicans.” It’s understandable, I think. If I were a Republican, especially one who’d been a cog in President Bush’s political support system over the past half-decade, I, too, would try to associate myself with someone a bit more popular and a lot less “worst-president-ever.”
Reagan: “Catholics, it figures. Hey, how about that Hussein? He’s one hell of an ally over there!”
How come nobody’s stopped to explain all this to the under-25 crowd? I mean, remember Ronald Reagan? I don’t. I was in kindergarten when he left office. Many who’ll read this were newborns. Sure we’ve heard about Reaganomics, we’ve seen the pictures of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam, and we learned about crack in D.A.R.E class. Still, we’re sort of like the 1955 version of Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown, who said, “Ronald Reagan?! The actor? Oh sure, who’s Vice President? Jerry Lewis?!” All Back to the Future jokes aside, I went ahead and did some research on the 40th President. I tried to figure out what the story was on this guy. Then I tried to find out what the story really was, and I think I’ve learned something. People like Ronald Reagan a bunch. I mean, they really, really like the guy. A February poll by Gallup ranks Reagan as second only to Abe Lincoln for greatest president ever. Impressive, but the same poll had Bill Clinton two behind Reagan, with Franklin Roosevelt coming in fifth. Reagan and Clinton are better presidents than FDR? I don’t have my diploma yet, but I’d cautiously suggest that the man who rebuilt America after the Great Depression, won World War II and basically saved the entire world – all while suffering from polio – might rank a tad higher on the merit scale than Slick Willy or Forgetful Ron. I apologize for that Alzheimer’s joke back there. It was in poor taste. Alzheimer’s disease is a deeply saddening condition. Reagan died from it. But don’t start pinning those poll results on pity or sympathy.
08/18-24 April 2007
Bush: “You know, Mr. President, that ailment came to exist when the chocolate-faced boy was penetrated by the gorilla. The boy gave the disease to the Catholic priest. The Catholic priest gave the GRIDS to the white boy, who became a homosexual. The rest is history.”
dave hagen
Much like Clinton, Reagan’s likeability comes from his persona and his manner of speech. “The Great Communicator,” as Reagan’s often called, got people to buy what he was selling.
Bush: “Love the guy. Hey, let’s deregulate the airlines. Twenty years from now they’ll thank us.” Ok, now that I’ve firmly destroyed my chances of maintaining any semblance of professional credibility (these stories get on the internet) let’s consider those Reagan policies. How’d the economic stuff work out? Today the average CEO makes over 400 times as much as the average production worker (AFL-CIO). That’s a tenfold increase since 1980. The top 1% of earners owns over 50% of America’s public stock. The gulf between rich and poor has widened a ton. Reagan, and later Bush part II, slashed taxes on the wealthiest of wealthy, while spending the government into the ground. More and more American businesses are falling under the ownership of foreign interests who purchase U.S. companies with our own debt.
The problem is, according to a couple books and a bunch of articles that my editor wishes I would have read faster, the stuff he sold the country was rotten. Rotten cheese, literally. His policies, specifically in the areas of foreign relations, market deregulations and social welfare were disastrous and have had far reaching effects. Reagan sailed into office on a platform of cutting taxes for corporations and high income earning individuals, jacking up defense spending, slashing social spending, removing regulatory red tape from Wall Street, reducing the size of government and gay bashing. Yep, gay bashing. Ever heard of GRIDS? I hadn’t until recently. It’s a bunch of bogus government science that came out in 1981 at the dawn of AIDS. GRIDS: Gay Related Immune Deficiency
Starting with Reagan, Wall Street has been given increasing freedom to act ruthlessly around the world. The World Bank, currently run by Iraq war architect Paul Wolfowitz, continues to practice atrocious development policies in poor countries everywhere. Armed with Wall Street dollars, multinational corporations pillage the planet. Is Reagan directly to blame? Perhaps not, but his imprint on American politics is. Still, Reagan is the eminently loved President; must have been one hell of a speaker. Don’t take my word for it. Read a couple books about politics in the eighties, that’s what I did. I read some conser vative blogs, some liberal blogs, some Op Eds by columnists I like and some I don’t and for mulated my opinion that Reagan sucked. But I’m 23. I don’t know squat about the eighties. I could be full of it, so decide for yourself. Do you think Ronald Reagan measures higher than FDR? I don’t. Hell no.
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jeremy $engly
The burning joys of pyromania toward the flag BY Patrick mcguire There have been few symbols throughout the course ofhistory that have become as universally recognizable as the American flag. Though the number of stars on the flag has changed over the last two and a quarter centuries, the message that it conveys has remained unchanged, and the flag itself has become almost synonymous with freedom and liberty. For the past few decades, the issue of flag desecration has become increasingly controversial and has been the focal point of many debates within the United States Congress. These disputes mainly revolve around the constitutionality of the burning of the American flag and whether or not this type of symbolic speech is protected under the First Amendment.
To eliminate an individual’s right to burn a flag would be as grievous a violation of rights as removing the right to a fair trial or right to bear arms. At a time when there are widening gaps between political sects as well as increasing tensions between those who support current government policy and those who oppose it, the flag burning issue represents frustration with America and its current state of affairs. The United States Constitution clearly protects an individual’s right to self-expression through peaceful assembly, freedom of press and even the burning of flags. As a type of symbolic speech, the desecration of the flag is subject to the greatest number of government restrictions as far as what is deemed acceptable; however, it is my belief that the importance assigned to a change in current policy is unnecessary and unconstitutional. Over the past two decades, there have been many attempts to pass an amendment to the constitution to make the bur ning of f lags illegal, yet each and ever y one has failed to pass with the necessar y major ity of votes. Despite the r uling in the Supreme Cour t case Texas vs. Johnson, each attempt to make an amendment banning f lag bur ning has come closer and closer to passing, the most recent failing by only a single vote. Those who believe the solution to the f lag bur ning issue lies in an amendment to the Constitution are somewhat misg uided; the underlying issues that are the ultimate cause of such acts of defamation against the United States need to be addressed.
Since the United States separated from England in 1776, it has been an individual’s right, and in some senses duty, to speak out against any and all injustices. It was on that same principle that the United States itself was forged from the discontent and outrage of the oppressed British colonists. If an individual chooses to burn a flag, his or her action is protected by the first amendment, but concurrently, it is the duty of others to investigate the reasoning behind such acts. Images of flags burnings in middle-eastern countries often fill the evening news; however, the statement made through such actions is one of complete and utter disregard for the traditions and ideals of America itself. It is the duty of the American people to uphold and defend the dignity of the United States and to make it socially unacceptable to express oneself in such a way that others are offended. One of the characteristics that differentiates America from the many other countries of the world is its sense of unity shared amongst its citizens. An individual who chooses to burn the American flag not only disgraces his or herself by engaging in an act of destruction but also creates a sense of disunity that is felt throughout the country. It is this unity that allowed America to rise to dominance in the world economy as well as the impetus that keeps America on the path towards future progress. The message conveyed through the burning is not a call for change rather it is an act of complete and utter disregard for the principles and ideals which the flag represents. It is a complete and utter insult to our nation to allow such acts to take place; however, such acts are protected by our Constitution. To eliminate an individual’s right to burn a flag would be as grievous a violation of rights as removing the right to a fair trial or right to bear arms. While flag burning is a socially unacceptable, slanderous act against our country, it is important to preserve such rights and to be certain that no trend in the limitation of rights is started. In the future, there may come a time when burning flags may be a necessary expression of discontent with a corrupt government. Until there is a veritable reason that people should start to question the overall system of government’s ability to meet the needs of the American people, any grievances with current policy should be expressed through letters to legislators, votes at the polls and expressions of opinion that target individuals and their actions as opposed to an attack on an entire system of government. The true importance of the preservation of the flag is not to protect the piece of cloth adorned with white stars. Rather it is to uphold that which the stars and stripes have come to represent and what so many Americans have given their lives to defend.
by Rahima Schwenkbeck
What is your stance on the legalities of flag burning? It seems like it’s hard to regulate this kind of activity. What constitutes a flag? If there’s a picture of a flag--how does one decide if it’s a legitimate flag? As long as it’s not physically endangering someone, I believe this falls in the “free speech” category of an American’s basic right. Who are we to limit someone taking a stand? EVAN PAPE Photography Freshman
I think that flag burning is another social issue that should be considered within the legal standpoint. People need to start thinking about the fact that a flag isn’t only an object, but a symbol of pride, belief or society. JESS MYNARS Sociology Junior
At this point in time, I think it is the most asinine form of free speech. Prior to the increase in terrorism, I still thought it was an inadequate and unintelligent form of free speech. As a stunt to get attention, it works, but antics are cheap gimmicks. JULIA DENNARD DMA Junior
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by Carl Carpenter Duluth heroes Low have been offering sonic escape to land locked Midwesterners since the early 90’s. Their new album Drums and Guns is another step in a new direction as they continue to expand upon their trademark, minimalist sound. Breaking to electronic beats, their crashing, ethereal harmonies float into new and uncharted territories. I met recently with the trio in uptown at the Café Barbette to discuss their new album, their popularity in Europe, cake (the food not the band), and the great Beatles vs. Stones debate. Wake: Your “CD release show,” [was] Saturday at First Avenue. Why there and not Duluth? Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals): I don’t know why they’re calling it that. The CD’s been out for a while and we’ve been playing these songs live for a while now ... who knows. Wake: How did you guys end up in Duluth, and not Minneapolis? Alan: We grew up not to far away, and (He and his wife Mimi) both went to school at UMD. Mimi Parker (vocals): It’s not huge, there’s always that something missing, but you’ve got almost everything you need. Wake: Do you guys ever go and run around on those huge rocks lining Lake Superior? It’s been a highlight of many a Duluth trip for me. Alan: [laughs] Oh yeah, all the time. Matt Livingston (bass): Of course.
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Wake: So, Low has proven to be far more popular in Europe than here in the States. What would you accredit that to? Alan: I think it’s a couple of things. Early on, this radio DJ over there [in England] started playing us and saying great things. He gave us a lot of respect. That helped a lot. I think people generally take art more seriously over there. Here, a lot of people looks at us like, “Oh, that band from Duluth put out another album.” Over there, they seem to connect to it more. Wake: Yeah, I would imagine it would be tough for you to get any national radio play here, considering your songs start slow, and can’t be recognized as immediately as those on the radio here. Mimi: I think that’s probably true. Alan: Yeah, but you’re not gonna hear any truly independent bands on the radio these days. Well, there are some semi-independent bands like the Shins or the Arcade Fire. But, we have definitely had more success with that in Europe.
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Tim Soter
Wake: Where did the name for the new album come from? Mimi: We were driving to go record the new album, and we had this book on tape in. Matt: Mmm hmm, and they had this old Irish drinking type song with a lyric about drums and guns. Mimi: We thought it’d be a pretty cool name for the album. Then we actually recorded it, and it just stuck.
Wake: One of the songs on Drums and Guns, “Hatchet,” has the chorus, “Let’s bury the hatchet like the Beatles and the Stones.” Which side are you on? Mimi: I’m Beatles. Matt: Ya know, that’s really tough. [long pause] Wake: Take your time. Matt: I would have to say that Stones, as much as I do love the Beatles.
“Actually, you’re both off. It’s ‘prisons and math.’”
Alan: There was definitely that great divide in the ’70s, where you were either a Beatles guy, or you were a Stones guy. I was always a Stones guy.
Wake: On the new album, you seemed to continue away from your trend of minimalist instrumentation. On The Great Destroyer, things were a great deal louder and, well, just a lot more rockin’. On this new one, you employed the use of drum machines and looped effects to a great extent. Were you consciously continuing the break from the fundamental Low sound? Or did you just go in and this is what came out?
Alan: Yeah [pause], well it was a little bit [of a conscience of effort]. We did want to try some new things like we had on Destroyer. I think even though it was a little louder and nosier, it was the same basic Low concept. We’ll go in and we’ll limit ourselves to these few instruments, and just see what we make out of it. This time instead of an acoustic guitar or electric guitars, it was, ya know, a drum machine and this one loop.
Wake: One of my favorite Low songs, “Death of a Salesman”, has a lyric that has often been disputed by a friend and me. I took you as having said, “The future is prisons and meth,” and my friend thinks its “prisms and math,” which would make a lot more sense in the context of the song, but I really think I can hear you saying, “Prisons and meth.” Alan: Actually, you’re both off. It’s “prisons and math,” because yeah, in the future we’re all either gonna be, ya know, behind bars, or sitting behind a desk working some logarithms.
Wake: So in the new video for “Breaker,” [Alan] consumes an entire cake. Where did that idea stem from? It reminded me a lot of that scene from Matilda where the heavy kid has to eat that entire chocolate cake in front of the whole school. Mimi: I can’t say I’ve ever seen that. Matt: They made that into a movie? Alan: Yeah, I’ve never seen that either. I think someone just threw it out there and we went with it. Wake: Was it painful? Alan: After a while it really did just start to hurt. Your body starts saying, “Whhhhoa, hold on a second, whhhhoa, this a bad idea.” It’s mostly a mental thing though, plus that milk was rice milk, which is supposed to help.
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ben lansky
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mike mason
BY becky lang Hannah Storm, anchor for The Early Show, got a taste more bitter than coffee in her mouth the morning that she reported the news about the supposed discovery of Jesus Christ’s bones. Titanic director James Cameron, a statistician and some hopeful anthropologists were sure that a group of bones labeled “Jesus, Mary and Joseph” belonged to the Christian messiah and his family. “Well,” Hannah concluded, her voice full of a high school girl’s lockerroom-gossip passion, “I think we can all agree that religion is a matter of faith and not science.” As I watched the show over my bowl of Special K, I found myself bothered on multiple levels. For one thing, why had I only heard about Jesus’ bones on the type of crappy morning news show that has news tickers like, “New HPV vaccine will make teenage girls have more sex,” and blatantly promotes eyelash transplants? More importantly, where does this anchorwoman get off assuming that religion is a matter of faith and not science to everyone? Luckily for me, Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists (or CASH, as I’m sure they prefer to be called) had organized a debate between a Caribbean preacher and a Scholar of Criticism to argue the exact matter that I was questioning: had Jesus risen from the dead? The debate took place at Smith Hall on a Thursday, Mar. 29. A large crowd showed up, chatting with each other freely, usually asking, “Which side are you on?” Looking through the program, my inner high school debate nerd was excited to see that the debate was in traditional format, including cross-examinations and rebut-
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tals. On the affirmative was Reverend Dwight Knight, with the kind of Southern preacher style and smooth, non-rehearsed speaking voice that suggested many a sermon given. On the negative was Robert Price, a man with a slight mountaindweller’s beard and a voice created by too much cigarette smoke and soda fizz. Each had the tools necessary for a fierce battle of Christian philosophical sensibilities: a Bible and a mini Dasani. Reverend Knight began, speaking of his personal relationship with Jesus. According to Knight, the Bible is “infallible when it comes to Christ,” and has been one of the most widely verified sources in history. Anticipating the argument that religious belief was merely wishful thinking and escapism, he pointed out that Christians could have easily found something more plausible on which to carry out those functions. Price’s constructive was read from a pretyped speech, and was full of prepared criticisms of the validity of the Bible. It became apparent that Price knew his scriptures, lining up various passages in order to show their contradictions. Clearly, the hours in his office writing books like The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man had educated him well. Finally, he proposed that, even if the sources seemed true, the event of the resurrection itself could have been a “collective hallucination.” At one point, Price mentioned that two areas of the Bible were in disagreement about whether or not Jesus had risen physically or spiritually, one gospel claiming that his flesh had been touched, yet a passage in Corinthians claiming that Jesus had no postmortem usage for things
as simple as human bones. I felt that this matter should have gotten more attention than it did, for if it truly didn’t matter that Jesus brought his bones along with him to heaven, then our previously mentioned Early Show host should have had nothing to worry about. Jesus could have risen and still left a nice excavation site behind for ambitious documentary producers to exploit.
The only follow up for this matter came during audience questions, when one member asked about the James Cameron film. Surprisingly, both parties agreed that the film was routine Easter-time propaganda, milking people’s annual interest in the matter. “Jesus is living in France; Jesus founded the first McDonald’s,” Price jokes, writing off the ridiculous rumors. Apparently, the bones were found in 1981, and have been making an annual reappearance in headlines, each time to written off by secular authorities. By the end, no winner had been declared, and the moderator, a Greek scholar who looked like an aged Precious Moments doll, looked like he wanted to fade into the blackboard. I found myself leaving the debate with an explanation for my Early Show queries, yet just as clueless about the truth as before. Picking through the passages of the Bible can unearth a few contradictions, but as someone who doesn’t give the Bible
the ultimate authority on truth, I didn’t think it was the only place to bother looking. For instance, one could look at Jesus’ moral maxims in the light of modern neurology and evolutionary psychology in order to see if his methods of judgment had predicted things about behavior that were later proven to be true. For example, taking a forgiving stance on behavior later found to be controlled by schizophrenia would denote an insight that was miraculously rare in the days when many schizophrenics had holes pounded into their skulls to “let the demons out.” There are certainly enough odd scientific explanations for behavior to allow the claim that people 2,000 years ago would not have been able to hypothesize them by simply connecting A to B. For example, male gorillas often invade a new group by killing all the infants, which makes the female gorillas go into heat. As strange as this seems at the surface, the system suits a society that survives the best when led by a male stronger than all invading males, i.e. it is a self-accelerating system. However, a preceding and paradigmatic knowledge of evolutionary theory is needed in order to deem the male gorilla’s behavior morally permissible. Thus, if a prophet came along that was making astoundingly counter-intuitive and verifiable claims about the ethics and metaphysics of the current era, it would be much more convincing that they truly were of divine origin. A dead man escaping from a rocky tomb and being touched by followers is surely a miracle, if it did happen, but there remain other ways of examining if one’s religious figure actually exhibits whatever qualities of godliness that particular religion deifies.
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Express Your Wrath (or Any Emotion) at RATH A student group sees art as social change BY elizabeth aulwes What do graffiti, feminine hygiene and globalization have in common? Not much, except they’re all on the menu at the Women’s Student Activist Collective’s weeklong The Revolutionary Art Thing, or RATH for short. From Monday, April 16 to Sunday, April 22, the Collective will attempt to inspire serious discussion and perhaps even social change within the university community. RATH this year zooms in on community art and includes discussions, films, how-to seminars, live music, appearances by local artists and more. “It’s a week dedicated to looking at art as social change,” senior and three-year member Kelly McCarthy says of RATH. “The point is to try to raise awareness about our group … so [students] can get involved in a setting that’s really creative and comfortable [to have] discussions about race or gender or other issues that it isn’t always comfortable to talk about.” The Collective aims to eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia and other prejudice
through artistic means, says McCarthy, which is certainly a tall order for a student group. But their members are inspired and devoted to their cause. “People in the group make art in their everyday lives, whether they would consider themselves an artist or not,” McCarthy continues. “Art is a reflection of your own personal culture [and] on what you want to do with your time.” And they make daily choices to practice what they preach. The Collective’s focus on art can be a way to avoid consumption and the oft-accompanying negative effects. McCarthy sees RATH as a “way to get out of our consumerist society.” About half the group members have made a commitment to not buy clothes firsthand. Art and action can be political statements, McCarthy says. But the group holds no affiliations. The members are mostly progressive, McCarthy continues, but they make a conscious effort not to become biased. As a result, they’re not endorsing any MSA candidates. And the collective is set up so that members must agree on all decisions, so political endorsement would be a big challenge anyhow, McCarthy adds. The Collective, which is made up of about ten active members and a few irregulars, including some men, is itching to spread their message to others. “RATH is our big
focus for the spring semester,” McCarthy says. “It’s where all our energy and money is devoted.”
The Collective will attempt to inspire serious discussion and perhaps even social change within the university community. McCarthy, who joined the group as a sophomore after browsing through a few other student groups, was attracted to the Collective because “as a woman it’s a place where I will be able to have some agency.” She’s leading the feminine hygiene how-to workshop. She’ll teach attendees how to sew your own reusable pantyliner, so that you have an alternative to mainstream pads and tampons. They’re easy to make, washable and easier on the environment. Plus, you’ll avoid the health complications of tampons, such as toxic shock syndrome (TSS). And if that’s not your style (or you’re lacking the necessary anatomy to make use of an environmentally-friendly pantyliner), you can check out the other events, most of which will be held in Coffman. There’s art in the Zapatista movement discussion, during which a Collective member
alex judkins
who studied in Mexico last year will explain how art is being used to create social change internationally. And a mural art talk, where a local artist who last year re-designed the Collective’s office (you may have noticed the abstract Minneapolis skyline mural on the second floor of Coffman) will talk about his experiences with art collectives. And the list goes on: book making, the aforementioned graffiti, feminine hygiene and globalization and more. You can even attend a clothing swap, where if you bring in a few items you’re tired of seeing in your closet, you can dig through other people’s wardrobes to add to your own. Or, check out local hip-hopper/ spoken word artist Desdemona on Sunday night at The Whole. But most importantly, you can enjoy the open atmosphere RATH offers. “The idea is to create a space for people to come and talk about different issues that are important while having the underlying theme of art behind it all,” McCarthy says. It’s a creative outlet you can use to find a way to express yourself, she explains. “Art shouldn’t just be between the four walls of an art gallery.” Check out www.tc.umn.edu/~wsac for more information on the Women’s Student Activist Collective and RATH.
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I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement BY rahima schwenkbeck The process of realizing homosexual feelings and finding acceptance personally and through family and friends can be quite difficult in itself. However, battling between adhering to religious doctrine and homosexual feelings can prove to be a nightmare. In an event sponsored by Campus Atheists and Secular Humanists and The Queer Student Cultural Center, Jack Richter and Angela Amic discussed growing up gay and lesbian in a fundamentalist religious environment and their involvement in the Ex-Gay Movement. Growing up, Jack Richter always knew he had an attraction to males. However, this posed an obvious problem being raised in a strict Roman Catholic home in St. Cloud. Richter grew up surrounded by family and friends who were very religious, and many of them were prominent figures in the church. After attending public school, in ninth grade Richter entered a seminary school aimed specifically to young male students considering entering the priesthood. Richter began to question the conflicting teachings of the Church, specifically regarding homosexuality, as well as the death penalty. After becoming frustrated with unanswered questions in the Catholic Church, Richter became a Fundamental Baptist. Angela Amic struggled with her sexuality growing up in an “extreme Baptist cult” environment. She attended a private Christian school and grew up in a relatively secluded environment where females had to wear dresses and were not given a voice. Like Richter, she felt an attraction to members of the same sex, starting with her kindergarten teacher. Her family left the church during her early adolescent
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years; however, she remained firmly attached to her religion. Amic continued with her religious schooling, attending Crown College. She majored in Theology and Youth Ministry. In her sophomore year, Amic contacted her mother to tell her she was attracted to women. Unlike other students who privately rebelled, Amic was outspoken and well-versed in her rebuttals to contradictory and sexist religious teachings. She spent countless hours studying Latin and Greek in her spare time to fully explore and understand the history of current Christian teachings. Despite her criticisms of the church, Amic continued to belong and went through four years of reparative therapy in an attempt to change her sexual orientation.
Recent scientific studies have found that sexual orientation is a biological component to one’s genetic makeup, rather than a conscious choice. Struggling with competing feelings of homosexuality and religious devotion led Richter and Amic to join the Ex-Gay Movement through Exodus International. According to their website, Exodus International is “a non-profit, interdenominational Christian organization promoting the message of freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.” Through various groups of the Ex-Gay Movement, Richter and Amic met others who were also trying to stop their homosexual thoughts and behaviors. Through group meetings, discussions and prayer
sessions, the members attempted to quell their feelings. Amic joined the movement during several points of her life in an attempt to join the two opposing sides of herself, however, the group only succeeded in destroying Amic’s self-value. Both Richter and Amic criticize the group for destroying the lives of several members and friends who chose suicide after being unable to successfully change their sexual orientation. It is important to note that various medical groups, including the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics do not support reparative or conversion therapy and suggest that attempting to change one’s sexual orientation can lead to anxiety, depression and self-destructive behavior, including suicide. In addition, recent scientific studies have found that sexual orientation is a biological component to one’s genetic makeup, rather than a conscious choice. Attempting to change one’s sexuality can be likened to attempting to change one’s ethnicity. After many years of research, Richter is now an atheist. He points out several discrepancies in the teachings of the Bible, as well as the borrowed numerology and stories from earlier religious texts. Amic is an agnostic, which has helped her close the duality between being a Christian and a lesbian. Richter and Amic want to inform others about their experiences with the Ex-Gay Movement and to help those struggling with their religion and sexual orientation. They have come together with a similar message of hope and acceptance: “When you’re accepting of yourself, life becomes so wonderful.”
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Democracy Matters BY kelly gulbrandson
Democracy Matters, a student organization on our campus, is fighting for fair elections locally and throughout the state. Founder Jim Forrey believes that getting money out of politics is the only way there can be fair and open elections.
cessful because their major party opponents have the ability to grossly outspend them in areas like advertising, leading to an unbalanced level of exposure to the smaller organization or candidate.
Democracy Matters is involved in various events on campus and works hard to Democracy Matters is a non-profit and keep students involved in civil action. A non-partisan national organization that works toward electoral reform. The U of M few ways they have accomplished this is chapter is the local chapter of this national by having lectures, debates, concerts, government events, letter writing campaigns organization. The group currently has 20 and more. The group also works hard to active members. The U of M chapter first stay active in non-partisan social action, started in the fall of 2004 by then freshForrey says. Currently, they are involved man Forrey. in passing a bill called the Fair and Clean Forrey thinks that issues like the war in Elections bill that would allow for publicly Iraq can be traced to big business and funded elections in Minnesota. Publicly money in politics. The problem of money financed elections remove financial disrunning politics is sometimes overlooked crepancies from campaigns, making the because other popular issues like health politicians responsible to the voters and care reform take center stage, Forrey says. not to big money contributors. This type When the wealthy elite run for election of legislation already passed in Maine, and win, it cuts out a whole section of the Arizona, North Carolina and Vermont. If country, not allowing for a truly equal passed, the bill would cost taxpayers less government, he says. Another reason why than a penny a day. Democracy Matters is Forrey finds it important to remove finan- also working with a few other groups to cial divisions from politics is that grass bring fair trade food and coffee products roots campaigns are hindered and unsucto campus.
The group’s biggest event of the year was Campus to the Capitol Week, which ended April 14. Forrey started the event with his group last year as a way to get more students involved in and aware of issues in politics. The event is Spring Jam for activists. The event is a coalition of social action student groups that serves as a forum for the groups to discuss their issues and goals. “It is a way for similar student groups to communicate to each other better and work together,” Forrey says. The weeklong event included speeches sponsored by different student groups, a fair trade lunch, a trip to the state capitol on Global Warming Day of Action and a party in the Superblock featuring local bands Kanser, Rise or Rust, The Hot Box, Cinema Eyes and more to end the week. There was also an activities carnival featuring information on all the groups involved, games, music, free food and an informal MSA presidential debate. Democracy Matters hosted a lecture on how money is affecting globalization with a speaker form Colgate University. All of the
events were free. Forrey says that while putting on the event is a lot of work, it is worth it to be able to inform people of important social issues. It is crucial to have a voice in government and the only way to do that is to have fair and open elections that allow all candidates the chance to represent the people, Forrey says. A lot of students do not realize that money affects every part of the system, which is why Forrey believes that the club is so important. He believes that students need to know is that any grievance they have can be traced back to money and politics. The group meets every Tuesday at 4:45 p.m. in the Coffman Boardroom. Anyone interested in joining the group only has to come to a meeting to get on their e-mail list, Forrey says. For more information on Democracy Matters, go to www.democracymattersumn.org for the U’s chapter website or www.democracymatters.org for the national website.
The Heat is On: Klobuchar on Global Warming BY brad tucker If you ever need to assemble Walter Mondale, Al Franken and about 183 other people in a pinch, just call Senator Amy Klobuchar. On Monday, April 2, Klobuchar came to the University of Minnesota campus as part of a new program series from the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance (CSPG), drawing a crowd of almost 200. The series, called “Connecting With Government,” will bring a number of Minnesota’s elected officials to the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute to speak at Cowles Auditorium. After a short introduction by Political Science Professor Larry Jacobs, Klobuchar took the stage. She started her speech with a couple of jokes, loosening up the audience with a story of her first lunch in Washington D.C., where she mistook a bowl of Thousand Island salad dressing for a bowl of soup and hilarity ensued. The title of Klobuchar’s speech was “The Heat Is On: Time for Action on Global Warming.” She introduced the subject by
pointing out that science is key in the fight against global warming, and that Minnesota is one of the states leading the way in scientific research. “There is no more debate on the existence of global warming,” Klobuchar says. “The only debate is on solutions.” Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are one of the leading causes of global warming. Since the Industrial Revolution the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has increased dramatically. Gases like carbon dioxide and methane absorb and trap heat. Largely due to these factors, 2006 was the hottest year in United States history. The rising temperatures are affecting every continent, changing rain patterns and melting glaciers. According to Klobuchar, there have been almost $300 billion worth of weather related damages in the last ten years alone. “It is not too late to act,” Klobuchar insists, “but we have to act now.”
In order to facilitate the changes necessary to help slow global warming Klobuchar proposes a series of suggestions that the national government needs to take into consideration. The first idea was to establish economic incentives for companies that reduce emissions. Klobuchar proposes that business should be given a certain number of “emission credits” each year. Those who exceed their number of allotted credits would be forced to pay for their extra emissions. In order to make this work, there must be an accurate and extensive system for monitoring sources of emissions. As Klobuchar pointed out, there is no way to change or fix this situation if there is no way to measure who is emitting harmful gases and how much they are emitting. Klobuchar also pointed out simple changes people could make to their everyday lives to be more energy efficient, like changing traditional light bulbs to energy-saving bulbs. Generating more power from natural sources like wind, the sun and home-
grown energy sources like corn and soybeans were also main points of the speech. Sen. Klobuchar was quick to point out that just as there is no single source of global warming, there is no one policy that will fix it. Now it is everybody’s responsibility to work on slowing down the effects of global warming. One way to encourage this is through Klobuchar’s new award program, Carbon Busters! This award will recognize the efforts of governments, business and students to reduce and reverse global warming contributions. Before wrapping up the event, Professor Jacobs came back on stage and did an informal interview with Klobuchar. During this time he asked some of his own questions, along with some questions submitted by the crowd. One audience member wondered how an individual could make a difference. Klobuchar encouraged each person to participate and facilitate in open discussion about global warming to help further awareness. Those in attendance were also encouraged to attend the rally at the State Capitol on April 14 for the Global Warming Day of Action.
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Literary/
Untitled Prose
Literary Events
By Preston Jones Once outside I light a smoke “Marlboro No. 27” and its tobacco is that which my brain might actually crave, wisp clouds pull depth from the blue and some water cascades down stairs leading to God. No, only leading to Northrop but at least I’m looking and now I feel alive again, much less dead than this morning when upon waking I cursed the day. Next class is too close, too easy to find, too little time to waste walking and wishing I wasn’t going to class. Winter was a waste of time, for anyone looking for warmth, too few hours I spent sober, looking for warmth, and I find it here now in spring, far from it in fact a tease of seasons and I’m already late for that class which was too close yet I found a longer way there, a longer way with time for more wishing, and another cigarette that I didn’t crave but had anyway. With more thoughts about winter and less about class I wish I had less to care about and someone to share that with, but all I have is the class I’ll walk to, and walk in late again. Stop and look around. I knew someone here, but not now, not this semester, it wasn’t spring then, or winter. It just was and I knew this class would be the same today as it was yesterday, but I still wish I wouldn’t have been here yesterday, but here today instead, but on time for once. But neither wish comes true and I sit in the back of the room and talk with a classmate and open the paper. Not reading, looking at lines of type on slimy paper that smear on my fingers, and the pictures in the paper that isn’t really all that important. I leave that classroom as I came in, sweaty and smelling of not spring but winter, where hot bodies warm hotter classrooms to the point of disgust. I walk home, in spring but not in rain, and not even in spring as I realize this can’t be true and isn’t. I’m thinking about too much and doing too little to make these thoughts stop, but it doesn’t bother me all the time, like now, but it bothers me in sleep. Or more it bothers me not in sleep, but in a struggle to sleep. A struggle last night I endured again, fighting fucked up dreams and uncomfortably I watched every hour pass. Until the day broke and I cursed its arrival again. Another Tuesday. Incredibly
Place A Dream Your Bets of Raining Orphans By Kristoffer Tigue
Is this really how I decide what to be? By the fears that I see? By the doubts within me?
I agree that in time everyone must decide Everyone must align With that question inside: Who am I? Who am I? Who the fuck am I? So I look into others And I search in their eyes And I beg and I plead And I pray for surprise Please this can’t be right Give me light, give me light I cannot be this, not like this – not here In these shoes, in her arms In this room wrought with fear God I know, fuck – I know It’s not right, it’s not right Give me light Please – give me light
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By Kristoffer Tigue
I was once subject to a dream Recurring, yet always new In a dark abandoned room, once bright It appeared in a subjective view Outside there stood a woman Indistinguishable inside her hood The face of a mirror, reflecting not me But only the earth on which she stood Sometimes at night, I chase her Hoping her presence she’d construe But, with my objects, I built each door To lead into another room She never returns to my dreams For now she is the stars and moon And every night, although it hurts With my objects, I build another room
Who: Deborah Keenan What: The poet reads from ‘Willow Room, Green Door’ When: Wednesday, April 18th, 7:30 pm. Where: Ridgedale Area Library, FREE Who: Leslie Adrienne Miller What: The poet reads from ‘The Resurrection Trade’ When: Wednesday, April 18th, 7 pm. Where: Micawber’s Bookstore (2238 Carter Ave, St. Paul), FREE Who: Kirmen Uribe; Elizabeth Macklin What: The poet and translator read from ‘Meanwhile Take My Hand’ When: Thursday, April 19th, 7 pm. Where: Franklin Art Works (1021 E Franklin Ave, Mpls), FREE Who: Marsha Hamilton What: The author discusses ‘The Camel Bookmobile.’ With video presentation When: Friday, April 20th, 7 pm. Where: The Loft Literary Center, FREE Who: Scott Donaldson What: The author discusses ‘Edwin Arlington Robinson: A Poet’s Life’ When: Friday, April 20th, 7:30 pm. Where: Magers & Quinn Booksellers (3038 Hennepin Ave S, Mpls), FREE Who: Divided: Contemporary Korean American Theater & Performance What: Poets and authors Karen Lyu, Kim Thompson, Sun Mee Chomet, and Ed Bok Lee discuss When: Saturday, April 21st, 8 pm. Where: The Loft Literary Center, $ 8 Who: Norita Dittberner-Jax What: Poetry When: Monday, April 23rd, 7 pm. Where: Barnes & Noble (828 W County Rd 42, Burnsville), FREE Who: Mohsin Hamid What: The author discusses ‘The Reluctant Fudamentalist’ When: Tuesday, April 24th, 7:30 pm. Where: Barnes & Noble (3225 W 69th St, Edina), FREE
\Literary
Flowers in Jerusalem By Dillon Aretz Take my hand and Walk under the archways That lead to the shadiest part Of the east-cityscape. Where the dryness Is not so bad as before When you met up with me Near your broken door. Since you have slept On the floor in the sand That covers us all, I thought I would help you stand. So, now once more I introduce you here Where the sun does not Sink in or sit so near.
And there before Your awestruck eyes Is the last link to life We here prize. Off the subtle Slanted bough Lies the last leaf Of a broken vow. So now you See the city heart And now, I think, You should start. Moving hardly To make no show Hold vigils secret to let No one know.
As I brush past This elegant hall I ask that you take it in And absorb it all. There are a few People waiting for you To see what is coming And to see if its true. But, I digress, take Your time, linger now Before the time must come When acrid sun bows. Sit here before the Fountain-well where Some have seen wonders And others just stare.
Pause
Withdraw before a Passing guard, holding Watch and feigning charge Over a city molding. Calmly hold your Vagrant guise before The passing guard sees Something more. Sunlight bounces Off a carried metal I see you blinded, cry “where is this petal?”
Past the moment When you called God I swear I heard trumpets As a ‘signal nod.’ Crippled though You were when last The temples fell and burned It all has passed. No arm of man No heart of sin Could break that love That soul within. And waited all For life and return From viewing anew; Time, it turns.
Bizzaro Poetry & Prose: Zombies, Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney, and Pat Robertson Make it happen. jduellman@wakemag.org
HOW TO submit to the Literary section: Submitting is easy! Send your poems, short stories or suggestions to jduellman@wakemag.org Attach your work using Microsoft Word and also include your piece in the body of the e-mail. Any accompanying illustrations must be sent at 300 DPI. Still have concerns? We are also available to meet in person to workshop your creative work. Just send an e-mail to set an appointment. We don’t bite... hard.
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Athletics/
Knights in White Satin University Chess Club crushes opponents using strategy. Crazy. By Nick Gerhardt Sure hovering over a checkered board for a few hours doesn’t seem all that exciting, but neither does sitting on your ass watching television if you think about it. So while some people are shocked by the amount of drugs Anna Nicole Smith had in her system, others stare at figurines of horses, kings and queens looking for answers. The tournament chess club at the U focuses their attention on implementing new strategies on the board to crush their opponents. There are many misconceptions about people who play chess, which is unfortu-
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nate because it closes the door to others who probably would have an affinity for the game. Chess is universally known as one of the most complex games where a variety of moves are employed. With moves like castling, dragon and the King’s Indian Defense what’s not to love?
With moves like castling, dragon and the King’s Indian Defense what’s not to love?
year-olds showing up and wanting to play,” chess club president Jeff Olson said. Members of the chess club organized the tournament chess club after growing weary of the same room and same opponents. “You get used to people’s style and it’s nice to have competitive challenges with having tournaments,” Olson said.
The tournament chess club spawned from the chess club and allows members to play against different people from different colleges, leading to, dare I say, a social scene. The tournament chess club started last semester after a call for more competition by chess club members.
Olson got his start in chess in high school along with a friend, Matt Jensen. Together they quickly improved to become the top two players in their school. The former president of the chess club knew them and invited them to come along to play at the U. They have continued to climb the ranks in the world of chess. Jensen has reached expert level. The top level of achievement is grandmaster followed by various forms of master status, expert and then class A to class J levels.
“Anyone can come to the meetings. We have anywhere from 10-year-olds to 60-
In addition to hosting tournaments, the club brings in top local players to teach
ethan stark
different moves. Last year Grandmaster Pablo Zarnicki came to Coffman and played against 30 people at the same time. Alexander Balander, a top 5 Minnesota player also visits once a month for a couple of hours to go over openings and other tactics with the members. Often times, area schools call the club to help coach their teams or get a program started, Olson said. He says helping other people learn the game is a rewarding experience and allows the club to draw more talent in the future. The chess club will have booths at Coffman about once a week to gain more exposure and to educate the masses about chess. Olson said they will have games going on while people stop by to ask questions. They explain some of the different moves for curious people and then get back to their game. The chess club meets at Coffman every week and holds tournaments every other week.
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mixed nuts mixed nuts
by Jeremy $engly
by Jeremy $engly
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